One third of people living in the United States do not have a driver license.
When Driving Is Not an Option shines a light on the frustrating, dangerous, and sometimes deadly situations involuntary nondrivers face every day and outlines steps to center the voices of nondrivers and make transportation more inclusive. Drawing from both her own experiences as a low-vision, non-driving mom and those of nondrivers across the country, Zivarts amplifies voices rarely heard or acknowledged by the people making decisions about transportation design and funding.
Recent Essays
- “How ‘Week Without Driving’ Is Having An Impact.” StreetsblogUSA.
- “School Dropoff Is Everything that Sucks About Car Culture.” Romper.
- “E-Bikes Mean Freedom for Low-Vision Bicyclists.” StreetsMN.
- “Washington State Should Allow Riders to Serve on Transit Boards.” The Urbanist.
- “I Tried to Hate-Ride a Waymo. Turns Out, I Loved It (And therein lies the problem with the autonomous vehicle revolution).” StreetsblogUSA
- “Why Should You Need a Driver’s License to Be a Hotel Receptionist?” Governing.
- “Don’t Forget About Nondrivers in Rural America.” Daily Yonder.
- “No One Left Behind: Nondrivers Are Facing the Housing Crisis Too.” Strong Towns.
- “What If Non-Drivers Helped Plan Our Transportation Systems?” Next City.
- “Steering Away from Car Dependency Is Not About Toughing It Out ” The Urbanist.
- “The climate crisis demands a move away from car dependency.” The Daily Climate.
- “You cannot prioritize all modes.” Planetzien.
About the author
A. Zivarts
Anna Zivarts is a visually impaired parent and author of When Driving Is Not an Option: Steering Away from Car Dependency (Island Press, 2024). Joining the team at Disability Rights Washington in 2018, Zivarts led a transportation access storymap project and launched the Week Without Driving challenge to address the needs of nondrivers in planning accessible communities.
Anna Zivarts 